Color issues, please help!

[beng]

I'm trying to setup a poor-man's studio in a room to take pictures of my new twins. My first take at this came out okay, but the colors seem off in these photos. In particular they seemed very "warm", orange-ish. The only lights I used were the overhead can lights which are incandescent builbs. Very little pp was done, as I don't have Photoshop, just Google's Picasa. Any thoughts?

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=153488&stc=1&d=1173465794

The full album can be found here (http://s112.photobucket.com/albums/n171/benjamingold/Twins/). Thanks for any advice!

[Roy Mathers]

Did you set the white balance?

[beng]

Did you set the white balance?

No, I've always just left the camera on auto white balance. That part of the process is still a bit of a mystery (but I'm trying to slog through all the FAQs and tutorials!)..

[Roy Mathers]

In that case, that's probably the cause. As I don't know what camera you're using, I can't tell you how to set it - but it's sure to be in the manual.

[beng]

In that case, that's probably the cause. As I don't know what camera you're using, I can't tell you how to set it - but it's sure to be in the manual.

Right, sorry, Digital Rebel XT, with a 50 mm 1.8 lens..

[Roy Mathers]

Unfortunately, I'm not familiar with the Rebel (I have a 30D) but setting the white balance should be very easy and it will be explained in the instruction book.

[Roy Mathers]

If you haven't got the instruction book, I've just found this (page 51 I believe).

http://www.cleaningdigitalcameras.com/pdf/EOSDR300DIM-EN.pdf

[Beau Hudspeth]

You need to shoot a Gray Card (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=breadCrumb&A=search&Q=&ci=916). It will help with the color issues and save a TON of time in PP. The back of the card will usually have the instructions on how to use it.

[Robert_Lay]

Custom White Balance (CWB) must be performed for each different set of lighting arrangements. In other words, you are not calibrating a camera - you are calibrating an environment controlled by a variety of lights and surroundings, in which any change will require another CWB.

Basically, with most of the EOS cameras, the CWB consists of 3 steps - each of which is critical.

Step 1 - take an out of focus, full frame picture of an 18% gray card under the same llighting as will be used for the photo (or the closest thing you can get to it. The importrant thing is that it should not have a color cast - it should be neutral).

Step 2 - Identify that picture in the camera to your CWB system so that it knows what neutral gray is supposed to look like in that lighting.

Step 3 - (This is the one everyone forgets). When you take your pictures under that lighting condition, set your WB control to the CWB setting. That tells the camera to use your calibration instead of some arbitrary thing stored in the camera, such as Incandescent, Daylight, Fluorescent, or whatever.

If you've done it correctly, the pictures will look correct when you review them in the camera. If you also have the good sense to shoot RAW, you will also be better able to make adjustments to the color temperature and tint during RAW processing.

[kevie]

just to add to Robert lay in case you didnt understand what the whole white balance thing is. You are basically telling the camera what is white in the scene so if can figure out the rest of the colors from that white point.